Ipswich Town 0-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers - Half-Time Tuesday, 7th Mar 2017 20:47 Town’s home game with Wolverhampton Wanderers remains 0-0 at half-time. Toumani Diagouraga replaced Emyr Huws, who suffered a hamstring injury during Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Brentford, in the Town midfield, while Josh Emmanuel took over from Jordan Spence at right wing-back. Tommy Smith was handed his first start since undergoing back surgery in September with Jonas Knudsen switching to left wing-back and Myles Kenlock moving to the bench. Wolves made five changes from the team which lost 2-1 at Reading at the weekend, bringing in Danny Batth, Matt Doherty, Jack Price, Andreas Weimann and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson for Mike Williamson, who was suspended, Dominic Iorfa, Conor Coady, Helder Costa and Nouha Dicko. As so often in recent weeks the Blues started slowly with Wolves enjoying most of the early possession but without creating a chance. However, in the fifth minute Town carved out the first opening when David McGoldrick found Tom Lawrence with a cross-field left-to-right pass. The Blues’ top scorer fed the overlapping Emmanuel but his low ball ran between the Town players in the box and McGoldrick who was breaking into the area. The first quarter of an hour continued in much the same vein with Wolves having most of the ball but without threatening and Town making the occasional foray forward. On 16 McGoldrick rode a challenge and fed Skuse on the edge of the area to the right but the midfielder appeared undecided whether to cross or shoot and the ball wafted harmlessly wide. There was a scare for the Blues in the 21st minute when Knudsen handled as he tripped with Doherty breaking into the area behind him. Wolves claimed a penalty and the Danish international was fortunate but it did appear he initially touched the ball with his hand outside the box. After a lengthy build-up, Romain Saiss shot well over from the freekick. The incident briefly seemed to wake Town up with skipper Luke Chambers forcing his way into the Wolves area after an Emmanuel cross from the right had been cleared to him. On 31 Diagouraga came a couple of yards from scoring his first goal for Town when Lawrence played a corner from the right to him on the edge of the box from where he smashed a powerful low drive not too far wide of Wolves keeper Carl Ikeme’s left post. Wolves again claimed a penalty in the 35th minute when Ben Marshall crossed from the right to Dave Edwards at the far post. The former Luton man nodded back across goal but McGoldrick slid in and diverted the ball behind, off a hand according to Edwards, although it had appeared to strike the Irish international’s body. Three minutes later, Lawrence carved out an opportunity in the 38th minute, the Wales international’s clever flick from Diagouraga’s pass taking him beyond Kortney House but wide and his well-struck low cross was cleared by Doherty. As what had been a drab half moved into injury time McGoldrick and Lawrence forced an error from the Wolves backline and the on-loan Leicester man fed the Town number 10 on the left of the area but the Irishman’s low shot was saved by Ikeme. That was the final action of an unmemorable half in which Town had never taken the game to an opposition who had had a lot of the ball without ever actually looking comfortable in possession. Neither keeper had been particularly tested with the Blues’ best opportunities McGoldrick’s shot shortly before the whistle and Diagouraga’s strike, while for Wolves Saiss should have done better with the freekick from the edge of the area earlier in the half. Town: Bialkowski, Emmanuel, Chambers (c), Berra, Smith, Knudsen, Skuse, Diagouraga, Ward, Lawrence, McGoldrick. Subs: Gerken, Pitman, Spence, Bru, Sears, Moore, Kenlock. Wolves: Ikeme, Doherty, Edwards, Batth (c), Saville, Price, Bodvarsson, Saiss, Hause, Weimann, Marshall. Subs: Lonergan, Stearman, Dicko, Coady, Costa, Iorfa, Cavaleiro. Referee: Darren Deadman (Cambridgeshire).
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